I did indeed.
Or, he was transfused and some previous legal Tramadol was in the bag. 
It’s hard to believe the Peloton is clean with faster and faster and faster performances.
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Uran rode with Sky from 2011-13. And arguably those were the years when they were pushing their marginal gains philosophy into the greyest of areas with all the TUEs. Whatever Sky were up to in that period he’d have been part of it as one of their leaders. There really is very little point speculating how clean any of the riders or teams are, other than where doping has been proved. There’s enough movement of riders and staff between teams that there will be very little in the way of secrets between any of them. So the peloton is either mostly clean, or mostly doped.
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Well, I’m looking forward to the Giro
I think it’s Remco on the top step but I’ll be cheering for Roglic - I’d love to see him win it
Mostly I want a clean run at it for everyone - hopefully we start the third week without crashes or mechanicals having impacted the GC and its a proper slugfest
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Almeida looking good. Clearly Remco is coming into this red hot but that’s the entire theory behind a possible Almeida win; Remco flies too close to sun and has bad day in 3rd week, Roglic crashes himself out like always, Almeida diesel choo-choos to victory.
I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but I think it’s a lot more plausible than people think.
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Well that opening TT certainly was red hot. In a league of his own.
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Not surprised Remco won, but am shocked by the margin of victory. Stunning.
Props to Tao for a surprisingly strong ride….did not see him doing that well. And Almeida has positioned himself well
Rog is going to need to take it to Remco in the hills…his usual tactic of waiting for the final few hundred meters and then sprinting away will not work ( unless he does it every time). He is going to need to full-n attack at some point to crack him.
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Agree. With 2 more TTs left it’s hard to think Remco won’t pick up significantly more time after that showing today. I had forgotten that Kuss was coming with Jumbo so there’s definitely some opportunity for Roglic to get away with a stronger team in the mountains, but damn that was impressive from Remco today. Dominating Roglic is one thing, but putting it down on Ganna is quite another
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Giro
Remco in a league of his own today. Historically coming into the Giro undercooked has paid off well - so hoping things stay interesting into the third week, but we likely won’t know actual climbing shape of everyone until a week and a half from now
I wager he will go full for the first two weeks, but clearly isn’t riding for GC so will ride easy in TTs. However, I bet they pull him at the second rest day if they don’t feel they can win the overall
Vuelta
Robbed of coverage of the decisive move by the partial coverage endemic to women’s cycle - coverage is better than its ever been but still a ways to go. Awesome stage, and setting us up for some very aggressive racing by SDWorx (strongest team in the race) tomorrow.
I’m always a bit meh about the unwritten rules of cycling, so I’m not bothered by using crosswinds (or otherwise attacking) regardless of someone taking a bottle or a pee break. IMO if you want to go back to the car or stop to pee its on you to time it correctly, and doing so right before a strong crosswinds section is just poor planning
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You may want to look into the Freeman tribunal. No speculation or gray areas about it. It’s fact and it’s full on doping.
Regarding Remco’s performance today - incredible.
I think even the deepest entrenched Remco’s deniers are finally running out of excuses…
The man is a land based missile.
Remco was just on another planet yesterday… Roglic didn’t have his best day and that time loss is already a lot. The only real hope is that remco will fade in the last week in which you can loose a lot of time…
It must be frustrating for GANA and other specialists. That they can’t compete with the top GC guys … in this case Remco…
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I’m starting to wonder if Ganna is the same TT stud that he once was….it has been awhile since he has been able to dominate a TT stage in a race.
He clearly still has the capabilities on his day (see Hour Record), but it seems as he as expanded his goals, he has lost a step or two.
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Agreed, I’ve wondered if he’s fallen off a bit or others have really stepped their game up. I think it’s a bit of both. Roglic is 33 so him losing a bit of the edge makes sense, wouldn’t expect that from Ganna quite yet at 26.
There was also some interesting talk on cycling podcast yesterday that speculated that Quicksteps TT setup is better than everyone else’s at the moment. The higher the average speed the more marginal aero gains matter so yesterdays flat course and very high average speeds would have yielded bigger differences than more varied courses.
Look at the stage results, but ignore Remco. Especially until the beginning of the climb. What’s your analysis like? Is Ganna not winning? Is Küng not right up there? Is anyone else in that top 10 out of place?
Does that change anything?
I was surprised by this as well. I would think Ganna would have ran away with it. I do know Remco is very aero the point other had made. I did not expect such a gap on a relatively flat TT between Ganna and Remco.
My only other thought would be Remco absolutely went all out. I only say this because of how much time he had on Ganna and Kung. I wonder if his crazy strong TT affects later stages.
I was very surprised by Almeida’s TT. He finished well on a flat stage. I have picked him for GC, but this is only stage one. I have heard they are considering changing stage 20, which would be profoundly disappointing.
Not really…I would have expected him to put more time into those other riders.
João Almeida has been one of the consistently best TTers competing for the GC for a couple of years and he is now on top notch equipment.
Also, no way Remco’s equipment accounts for Ganna’s “~23W”. Ganna is as dialed in as it gets.
@Power13, sure.